I live in St. Louis, MO, but my heart and soul hang out at the beach. I am a multi-genre, award winning writer and speaker. I am a seasoned pre-k teacher, on line writing instructor, wife, mother, Nana to eleven. Hopefully, something I say will make you smile, further your writing career, or inspire you to write from the heart, too.
billin7@juno.com. Twitter,
@WriterLindaO.

Monday, December 10, 2012

What a fun day!

We four Chicken Soup for the Soul Writers have been published this year in ten Chicken Soup for the Soul titles. The fourth annual Chicken Soup for the Soul, Canned Food for the Body Book Signing and Food Drive at Main Street Books in St. Charles, MO was a success. We sold a bunch of books and collected non-perishables for the local food bank.

This year was a multi-store, multi-author event which started at 10 a.m. and ended at 6:00 p.m. Eleven women travelled from store to store supporting one another. Talk about parking issues! I think Theresa Sanders, Tammy Goodsell, Sioux Roslawski, Nina Miller, Patt Pickett, Donna Vokenannt, Beth Wood, and those of us featured in the photo laughed more this year than ever before.

Please patronize these participating independent book stores, Main Street Books, All on the Same Page, and The Book House.

We were honored with the presence of a real Victorian ... oh wait a minute, it was Val the Victorian, no wait, she is a teacher who was once a Valedictorian. Her students love her and her blog followers wish they could write with such acerbic wit. She travelled far, brought yummy gifts, and she even brought Happy and the Genius who found books galore to buy from the haunted book store. Pony stayed home galloping around.

Four of the five women in my critique group were published in Chicken Soup for the Soul books this year. The fifth, our illustrious hostess, Lynn Obermoeller visited each of us and bought books from all of us. What a champ! She is one of only twelve writers selected for a soon-to-be released anthology, Fifty Shades of Santa, so don't underestimate her writing ability. She beat us out!

My group had clear view of Main Street which is home to century old, brick row houses that now house antique and specialty shops and restaurants. The Christmas spitrit was everywhere as carolers strolled, and a fife and drum band high stepped. Characters dressed as Santas from around the world, the Town Crier, the Sugar Plum Fairy, a life-size angel, historical WW11 characters and so many more walked up and down Main Street handing out collectable trading cards. The parade, as always was a delight; the crowd enormous and controlled. One of the best sights I saw in the crowd was a set of twins dressed in red hoodies and hats wearing holiday tu-tus. They were middle-age, a wee bit short and round and certainly not hung up on body conciousness. Made me smile with delight.

Heads up for those who submitted to Chicken Soup for the Soul On the Spectrum book. They have not made final selctions yet but will soon.

Why don't you send a story to CS? All you have to do is write from the heart on the topics listed on their website.

I have only seen St. Charles during the holidays one time in the 17 years living in St. Louis! It is positively enchanting! I'm so glad your day was such a succes and so much fun and frivolity. Kudos to you and your wonderful stories. You inspire me to write more.

Sorry I could only fit in a visit to one venue. I never saw such boisterousness in a bookstore! It was great to meet everyone, and the high point of my weekend. Now I'll go back to valedictorianing again.

I think the streets were safer during those hours you gals were confined to signing.

I am an online writing instructor at http://Coffeehouseforwriters.com/our-instructors/"Life is an echo.What you send out, comes back.What you sow, you reap.What you give, you get.What you see in others,exists in you. Remember, life is an echo.It always gets back to you.So, give GOODNESS."~Zig Zagler